The
Aboaboso project is now moving to the next stage with construction of a
composting facility now complete. Many of the logistics associated with
commissioning a self-contained and sustainable sanitation programme are now
being decided by the village’s residents. Among the first decisions taken by
the community was to set up a collection of all household organic waste every
two days for transport by community members to the compost facility.

All 6 chambers have been filled and the contents are turned regularly. Compost
toilet designs have been agreed by the community and plans are underway to
begin construction.

Thanks to all of you who helped to
promote our campaign and especially to our many contributors.

And Special thanks to the The Fontana Foundation who helped us to raise additional money for this campaign!Since its establishment in Zurich, Switzerland, in November 2008, the Fontana Foundation has helped the very poor in developing countries by engaging in initiatives aimed at enabling them to get out of poverty and lead productive lives. These activities provide training for a better income, access to essential infrastructure and financing to start small businesses. http://fontana-foundation.org/data3/index.php/en/

The
SanSol team would like to thank all 56 contributors to the 2014/2015
Give Dignity a Chance. Their donations benefited the Aboaboso project by more than
$10,000. Those donating $1000 or more have been recognised on a commemorative
plaque made from local hardwood, shortly (or already!!!) to be erected in the village itself.

In addition to individual names, the wording on the plaque reads: "Aboaboso is very grateful to the following contributors for their generous
support to
improve sanitation and soil quality in our community"

These funds are now being used as capital to help Aboaboso build compost
toilets and a compost facility that will allow this community
to establish a sustainable sanitation business in their village.

T o learn more about this 2015 Indiegogo campaign read on.....

Our Story

Our
story takes place in Aboaboso (www.youtube.com/watchhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_i3yLx5t8M), a small community of 1500
people just west of Kumasi, in the central-southern part of Ghana. The
village, which relies heavily on their cocoa and palm oil plantations, is
typical of many throughout the country in terms of size, income and
aspirations for improved sanitation facilities. We plan to help the community
to develop a successful small-scale operation in Aboaboso in order to
validate a business model for effective sustainable sanitation. This will
support research to demonstrate health and soil fertility benefits to further
validate and ultimately support expansion of this business model to other
communities in the developing world. Every village that makes better
sanitation choices for their people also makes better choices for the entire
planet.

What We Need & What You Get

Our
Funding Goal

We
hope to raise 50,000USD in order to have sufficient capital to support the
community of Aboaboso to build 35 household toilets, public toilets for the
local school, and conduct research to demonstrate the benefits of this
sanitation solution in order to replicate the model for other communities.
Funds are also needed for training local villagers. On completion, they will
be employed to build compost latrines, collect compost, manage a compost
facility and sell and distribute the local fertilizer. Help sponsor a toilet
for Aboaboso families and their school!

The Impact

The
problem: Inappropriate sanitation, poor
hygiene practices at the household level, nutrient depletion of agricultural
soil and overuse of expensive chemical fertilisers cause severe environmental
pollution and pose a substantial health risk. It is estimated that in Ghana,
only 14 % of the population have access to household sanitation facilities
that meet WHO improved sanitation standards and millions are spent annually
on healthcare costs to address sanitation related diseases.

The
opportunity: Raising these
standards would bring huge benefits to society as a whole, as well as to
local communities such as Aboaboso. The uncontrolled disposal of human waste
has been directly implicated in a variety of sanitation-related diseases,
consuming an estimated equivalent of 150 million USD in healthcare costs
across the nation annually (

allafrica.com/stories/201204201313.html). Managing sanitary waste, and
its associated disease risks, would also reduce reliance on antibiotics and
other costly medications, and health care professionals, and improve both the
nation’s quality of life and worker productivity.

Although
this may be common knowledge, sanitation projects frequently lack the
priority level they deserve from local communities and organizations, thus
additional incentives are needed to ensure appropriate support. There are a
number of opportunities to add value to sanitation solutions and turn them
into additional benefits for the community. Take food supply, for instance:
The central place held by the phosphorus in crop production is well
understood by agriculturalists. Access to this element is crucial for
improving soil fertility and global food security. Recycling of this finite
nutrient could decelerate soil nutrient depletion, reduce reliance on
imported fertilizers and thus strengthen the security of the nation's
internal food supply. Locally produced organic fertilizer, produced from
human waste, household organic waste and agricultural waste could reduce the
need for imports while also providing a source of income. In Ghana alone,
imported chemical fertilizers in 2012 cost the government approx. 43
million USD (thinkbrigade.com/rio20/chemical-fertilizer-impedes-development-of-african-agriculture/; www.modernghana.com/news/328668/1/government-is-to-subsidise-price-of-fertilizer-.html). And this is where the controlled sanitary waste disposal closes the loop to
the improvement of soil fertility by producing organic fertilizers locally.
As a significant bonus, this relatively simple added value loop can
contribute to creating and raising the knowledge basis and capabilities of
the local community.

“There
was a time when humans operated totally self-sufficient farms, and managed
waste effectively, by simply making sure that everything that came out of the
land eventually went back into it. In such a closed-loop scenario, phosphates
have the capacity to be reused [over and over again in a cycle, starting as
food, and proceeding through fuel, fertilizer, and finally back to food
again]. In the fertilizing techniques that dominate today, which involve the
annual application of phosphate-enriched chemical mixtures on top of
nutrient-starved soil, phosphorus is used exactly once, then swept out to sea.
This practice is simply unsustainable.” [Retrieved from web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2016/finalwebsite/solutions/phosphorus.html].

The
solution: Although considerable benefits
can be realised by the combination of improved sanitation and nutrient
cycling, successful introduction of these concepts remains low. There is a
great need to develop well-adapted sanitation and compost systems and to
translate their advantages into direct economic benefits. Clear guidelines on
how to set-up, maintain and profit from compost sanitation systems could help
local communities and partners to realise these benefits.

Summary

This
is your opportunity to help Aboaboso to develop a sustainable sanitation
solution that can be used as a model for other communities throughout the
developing world. Together, if we all give a little we can accomplish a lot,
not only for this community, but also for the planet, one small village at a
time.

The
SanSol Campaign: Sanitation
Solutions was initiated in October 2011 and registered in Ghana in June 2012
as an NGO. The nationalities of the Management Team are Ghanaian, Cameroonian,
German, British/Swiss and Canadian, all of whom share a common commitment to
help improve health and sanitation in the developing world. Our project is
intended to complement the Ghana Compact on Sanitation and Water for All
initiative, announced by the Ghanaian Ministry of Local Government and Rural
Development (MLGRD), October 2014. This, in turn, is in line with the
Ghanaian Government's “commitment to providing accelerated and sustainable
access to sanitation and [the] provision of safe water in the country.” The
program could also be relevant and scalable for adaptation to any developing
country.

With
Your Help:

SanSol
in partnership with Millennium Villages Project Ghana and the Fontana
Foundation in Switzerland can achieve the following:

i)
Implement a fully functional compost sanitation and nutrient reuse system in
Aboaboso, Ghana (pilot for scale up in any community in the developing
world)

ii)
Raise awareness and develop educational programs

iii)
Generate health and crop data to validate the business model

iv)
Accelerate the development of similar projects in other communities (and
countries) by replicating and adapting successful technologies and management
practices.

Risks & Challenges

Many
prior attempts to improve sanitation in developing countries have yielded
only disappointing results. Without doubt, a major contributor to this lack
of success has been the use of donations to build household and public toilet
facilities while neglecting to engage the community or to make proper
provision for regular maintenance. Projects that have been successful have
directly involved the communities and gained their commitment to manage and
maintain the toilets.

In
order for SanSol to mitigate any potential risk, the community will be engaged
in the development of an optimum business model which will include a
commitment by the farming community and cooperative to purchase the
fertilizer generated.

Local
governments will also be encouraged to support the community in
building the compost toilets by contributing some of the
opportunity cost per household or by providing an interest-free loan to
the community.

This
pilot allows SanSol to raise needed capital to initiate the project. However,
the community has agreed to repay part of the capital raised. This repayment
will then be made available to support similar projects in other communities.